Carolyn, this farmer's daughter was away and not checking e-mail when you
raised your questions. May I add something to the conclusions you have
drawn? (My farmer father grew up in Arkansas, if that adds any authority to
my answer about your Arkansas farm question <g>.)

Your original statements were:
<The one from 1900 says he has a "3 pen log barn." Does that mean
pens for animals, like 3 stalls?>
< Crops are listed and then it says "balance in Trench and Garden." . . .
< "Pailed yard and Garden," . . .
< "19 a chain [claimed?] of fenced and in cultivation
and 1 a fenced which is not chained [claimed?] " Is that "chain"

Then, after considering the responses, you concluded . . .
pailed = paled, fenced with pickets
trench = a walkway or path
"chained" is really "cleared"
pen = a room unit in a log house

I agree with your conclusions on "paled" and "cleared." However, . . .

(1) A trench was/is not a walkway or a path. It's a shallow "ditch." A
garden that was planted in rows of alternating hills and trenches was worth
more than a garden spot that had not been hilled and trenched.

(2) A "3-pen log barn" would not be rooms in a log house. A log barn would
be of cruder construction than a log house, and pens weren't fully defined
rooms. The divisions between the pens were more like fences than walls. Your
initial interpretation of "like stalls" is more appropriate. Just put a
crude log structure around those stalls.

Incidentally, for more insight into the agricultural practices of Southern
ancestors, a useful source is Lewis C. Gray, *History of Agriculture in the
Southern United States to 1860,* 2 vols. (Washington: Carnegie Institution,
1933). An image copy is in Cornell University Library's Digital Collection,http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/ in the Core Historical Literature of
Agriculture module, for which an index of books appears athttp://www.digitalbookindex.com. (Needless to say many of the other books
in the collection deal with agricultural practices elsewhere.)